International

Fifth PSV for World Wide SupplyDamen Shipyards Group (Gorinchem, Netherlands) is set to deliver the fifth platform supply vessel (PSV) in a series of six to World Wide Supply (Fosnavåg, Norway).

World Opal is a Damen PSV 3300 CD. The first ship in the series, World Diamond, was delivered in July.

With an 80.1-meter length, the PSV 3300 has a deck load of 1,500 tonnes. It can be used to transport crew and equipment to and from offshore platforms, but it also offers firefighting and oil pollution recovery capability.

Sergey Paramashkin, Navis training officer, chief mate, DP-O, said that 'the training course for the DP system will be made available to all students studying the purpose and functions of this kind of vessel motion control system.'

Dalian Maritime University was founded in 1909, and it is the only key maritime institution under China's Ministry of Transport.

Upturn Expected for 2014 in Turkish Shipbuilding
While the Turkish shipbuilding industry has closed the gap on the world's top shipbuilding nations over the past decade, a shaky global economy has weakened the industry in recent years.

Turkish shipyards have responded to the continued economic crisis by expanding their product portfolios. Specialized ships play an important role in this scenario. The most recent example is the shipbuilder Sanmar (Istanbul, Turkey), which is currently building the world's first tugboats propelled by LNG.

ARES Security Debuts CommandBridgeARES Security has incorporated the CommandBridge platform into their existing suite of risk management solutions to provide sensor integration and real-time command and control capabilities.

CommandBridge uses Web-based technology to ingest and display data from sensor feeds, such as AIS, cameras, radar, sonar, access control and alarm systems, and operational data into one view.

CommandBridge leverages social media to build an operating picture and enable collaboration with on-the-scene users in real time.

Imtech Marine Extends Service Reach to AustraliaImtech Marine (Rotterdam, Netherlands) has signed an agreement with Electrotech Pty in Sydney, Australia. With this agreement, Imtech Marine extends its global service network, now 94 offices in 30 countries, with eight Electrotech offices in Australia. With Electrotech, Imtech Marine can provide all navigation and communications services, including radio surveys and annual performance tests throughout the Australian coast.

KVH Expands Capacity of Mini-VSAT Broadband Network
To serve its maritime customer base in the Asia-Pacific region, KVH Industries Inc. (Middletown, Rhode Island) has doubled the service delivered by the JCSAT-1B satellite, which is part of KVH's mini-VSAT Broadband network. This additional capacity will support mariners in the Asia-Pacific region, which includes some of the world's busiest shipping routes.

An advantage of the mini-VSAT Broadband service is that existing TracPhone V-series and V-IP series terminals will automatically be able to access the additional capacity when they receive a software update.

NAPA and SDARI Expand CooperationShanghai Ship Research and Design Institute (SDARI), located in Shanghai, China, and NAPA (Helsinki, Finland) agreed to expand their cooperation to cover ship performance monitoring. Ship performance monitoring has been added to the partnership's scope in response to a shift in focus in the maritime industry from capital expenditure costs to operating costs, amid high bunker prices.

Teledyne Gavia Awarded CertificateTeledyne Gavia's (Kópavogur, Iceland) management system has been independently audited and confirmed as conforming with ISO 9001:2008.

The comprehensive audit covered the quality management system at Teledyne Gavia's facility in Iceland where the Gavia AUV is manufactured. Since Gavia was acquired in 2010, Teledyne has improved the Gavia AUV's reliability, range of available survey sensors and customer support network.

The new and updated range of products includes new electronic navigational chart coverage for Vietnam, available in the ADMIRALTY Vector Chart Service, new and updated paper charts covering Vietnamese ports and waters, new routing charts for the South China Sea and updated publications covering tidal data, radio signals and sailing directions for Vietnam.

ClassNK Tops 220 Million GTThe ClassNK (Tokyo, Japan) register topped 220 million gross tons for the first time. The November meeting of the ClassNK Classification Committee certified the register listed 8,511 vessels totaling 220,212,135 gross tons as of November 30, 2013.

More than 10 million gross tons have been added to the ClassNK register over the past 12 months. Existing vessels transferred from other class societies accounted for more than 30 percent of the new additions to the register.

RightShip Wins Australian Exporter of the YearRightShip (Melbourne, Australia) was awarded the Australian Prime Minister's Exporter of the Year Award. RightShip also won the Business Services Exporter of the Year award and was runner-up in the Environmental Solutions category at the Governor of Victoria Export Awards.

RightShip's online marine and environmental risk management system enables customers to identify in advance the 20 percent of substandard ship operators who account for approximately 70 percent of total casualties.

Jee Staff Numbers to Double in AberdeenJee Ltd. (Tonbridge, England) announced the expansion of its Aberdeen, Scotland, office, with the potential of increasing staff numbers by 110 percent in Aberdeen.

The new 'Subsea Corridor' premises are more than double the size of the previous Westhill office, with the capacity for 60 staff that can provide project office support for operator or contractor personnel.

Xodus to Support Mutual EnergyXodus Group (Aberdeen, Scotland) has a four-year consultancy support framework agreement to provide marine services for Interconnector Services Ltd. (ISL), a subsidiary of Mutual Energy based in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Xodus will manage the procurement of a survey contractor in order to perform survey investigations on the power cable and pipeline networks connecting Scotland and Northern Ireland. The aim is to assess and maximize the asset integrity of the two systems and refine inspection techniques and emergency response procedures as appropriate and dependent upon survey findings.

ASV Delivers C-Target 9 Boats to South KoreaAutonomous Surface Vehicles (ASV) Ltd. (Portchester, England) completed phase one of a two-phase, C-Target 9 program with South Korea. The high-speed marine target drones will be used in the test and evaluation of a new weapon system.

ASV worked with GigaRF (Bucheon, South Korea) to ensure the delivery of the first two vehicles. Phase one was completed in October 2013, with the first two boats carrying out acceptance tests at ASV's site.

Construction of phase two marine target drones will be completed in early 2014.

Korean Register and Russian Maritime Register to Cooperate on Shipbuilding The Korean Register (KR) and the Russian Register of Shipping (RS) signed an agreement on shipbuilding. The memorandum of understanding sets out a range of cooperative activities related to shipbuilding and an offshore plant.

The aim is the development and promotion of the international shipbuilding industry. The agreement includes joint technical seminars, information sharing and the exchange of technical personnel.

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